Galaxy, Real Salt Lake battle for early Western supremacy

Clubs that met in MLS Cup 2009 and have developed a healthy rivalry over the past few years, Real Salt Lake and the LA Galaxy face off at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real opened their 2011 campaign on the road, coming away from the San Jose Earthquakes with a 1-0 victory. The Galaxy are still unbeaten on the campaign, after a 1-1 home draw with the New England Revolution at the weekend.

The Galaxy have not won at Salt Lake since a 3-2 victory April 29, 2006 at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Real have won two of the five meetings since in Utah, including a 1-0 win last June 9, the Galaxy’s first loss of 2010.

The teams have split their last four meetings at The Home Depot Center, winning on alternate years (the Galaxy won 2-1 on April 17 of last season).

With two long-range strikes in the opening two games of the season, Galaxy midfielder Juninho is tied atop the Golden Boot table after one week, along with D.C.’s Charlie Davies, SKC’s Omar Bravo and Vancouver’s Eric Hassli.

"He's fitter," Arena said. "I think last year he really struggled to play 90 minutes. He's maturing. He knows the league. He knows our players. He's doing a better job getting forward. He's shown that he's a more dangerous player. He just looks like a more mature player."

With Landon Donovan and David Beckham providing the attacking thrust from wide midfield positions, Juninho has taken over the central midfield spot.

“He came in really sharp and he’d been training with São Paulo for a while before he got here,” Donovan said. “Through the preseason he’s been as consistent as anybody.”

Josh Saunders started a second consecutive match in goal, with Donovan Ricketts still sidelined. The third-minute goal was the first he had conceded in a regular-season game since April 4, 2009. The 435 minutes between goals was the ninth-longest shutout streak in MLS history. Included MLS Cup play, Saunders had a shutout streak of 489 minutes.

“We just did a poor job on the entire play, a poor job of giving the ball away maybe 30 seconds before that that resulted in the corner kick,” Arena said. “We didn’t do well in the opening minutes of the game and it cost us three points.”

Juan Pablo Angel made his Galaxy debut, coming on in the second half after missing out on the opener through injury. “I think he did well. He played close to 30 minutes. It is the first time he has actually been on the field in 11 days, so I think he played pretty well,” said Arena.

In addition, Paolo Cardozo made his MLS debut, coming on with Angel in a complete change of strike pairs.

“Obviously, Juan coming on, his play speaks for itself. He is such a talent and has such character. His experience is going to be great for the players and for the team,” said Donovan. “Paolo is a young player. He is still learning the game, but he came on and he kept the ball well, passed the ball, penetrated well towards their goal. He is going to be a very good player.”

Real Salt Lake’s victory extended their league undefeated streak to 15 games, dating back to last July 17, when they lost 2-0 at FC Dallas. The 15-game streak is tied for third-longest in MLS history, four games behind the joint record held by FC Dallas (set in 2010) and Columbus Crew (2004-05).

"When you have a huge game like our Champions League game and then you follow it up with a game like this, usually there's a letdown but I think we understood the situation," said RSL defender Nat Borchers to The Salt Lake Tribune. "This is a huge three points for us. I think this is going to pay dividends for us later down the line."

RSL has recorded three shutouts in four competitive matches this season, having allowed just one goal total in three games in the CONCACAF Champions League before the MLS opener.

“Today was my day,” goalkeeper Nick Rimando said to The Salt Lake Tribune. “Luck was on my side today, and I was able to get a piece of those balls. ... Sometimes, I was trying to catch ‘em when I shouldn’t have caught them, and sometimes I was dropping them when I should have caught ‘em. But I think luck was on my side today.”

Rimando was credited with 10 saves for the match, following a season where RSL set an MLS record with just 20 goals allowed (in 30 matches).

“He just gives the defense a lot more confidence than otherwise,” Borchers said to the Tribune. “His communication, his shot-stopping ability, his distribution are excellent and gives us all confidence. Obviously, we got the shutout tonight, and attribute most of that to him.”

With Jamison Olave out with an injury that forced off early in RSL’s CONCACAF Champions League match against Deportivo Saprissa, Chris Schuler stepped into central defense alongside Borchers. Schuler made one league start in 2010, a scoreless draw against Seattle on Sept. 9.

"The rational decision was to play Rauwshan (McKenzie), and I was leaning that way all week," said Kreis to the Deseret News. "But we say it over and over, and I know people don't believe it sometimes, but what you do in the training sessions matters. And Rauwshan struggled a little bit in training this week and Chris stepped forward, and through the training sessions on Friday and Saturday, Chris convinced us that he needed to play."

Kreis is already looking toward the second leg of the Champions League semifinal, to be played in Costa Rica on April 5. If Real reach the final, against the winner of the all-Mexican semifinal between Cruz Azul and Monterrey, those matches will be played April 19 and 26.

“We’re going to have to really consider more rotation,” he said. “We did a lot last year, and I think we’re going to have to consider even more, because of the length of season.”